How long would it take to get to the edge of the Milky Way galaxy?

Answer 1

the Andromeda Galaxy is our closest galaxy but the time to get there would take

a very long time beyond human understanding

Just like any other trip, such as to the corner store or to Grandma's house,

the time it takes depends on how fast you travel and the route you take.

If you traveled at the speed of light (you can't), and followed a straight-line route

(you can't), then you could reach the Andromeda Galaxy in only 21/2 million years.

You were smart to pick the nearest galaxy.

Answer 2

At the speed of light from one edge to the other, is about 100,000 years.

At other speeds, you need to adjust.

One light year is about 5.9 x 1012 miles or 9.5 x 1012 kilometers.

So travelling at 55 mph would take over 12,237,624 years to go ONE light year.

To travel across our galaxy in a Ford Pinto at US speed limits would take 1,223,762,400,000 (Just over one trillion years).

The Universe has only been in existence for 13.7 billion years.

I like your math, but the speed of light in a vaccum is approximately 299,792,458 metres per second (or roughly 300,000 kilometres per second).

If light were to travel from one edge of our universe to the other, it would take about 10,000 years.

So traveling from one edge of our galaxy to the other would take about 100 years, maybe less.

Answer 3

If you manage to travel at the speed of light, it will take you exactly 0 (zero) seconds to travel through the galaxy (in your reference frame). At speeds near the speed of light, "length contraction" causes distances to shrink. AT the speed of light, length contracts to nothing. Unfortunately for adrenaline junkie astronauts, nothing with finite mass can travel at the speed of light.

The theory of special relativity is one of the most interesting phenomenons in physics, and it can even be appreciated by people who have no background in physics or mathematics. (Justification for it requires some skill, however).

Check out "Twin Paradox" on Wikipedia sometime.

If, however, you ignore special relativity, then it would take you about 100 000 years to travel across the galaxy (slightly different from zero, in astronomical terms).

Answer 4

The farthest galaxies are now roughly 10 billion light years to 12 billion light years away.

Therefor it would take roughly 10 billion year to 12 billion years to get there at the speed of light... However as they are still moving away from here, it will actually take longer than that as you will have to travel to where they WILL BE not where they are now.

Answer 5

At the speed of light, it would take about 73,000 years. At current spacecraft speeds, it would take hundreds of millions of years. Only a drive system that could either warp space or enter a reference plane moving FTL would make a faster trip possible.

Our solar system is about 73,000 light-years from the nearest edge of the Milky Way, which is some 100,000 light-years in maximum diameter (although fringe stars exist out to 180,000 light-years). Our star Sol is located on the Orion Arm, about 27,000 light-years from the galactic center.

Star Trek TOS notwithstanding, there is no fixed boundary between the galaxy and intergalactic space. There are satellite galaxies including the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud, which are about 163,000 and 200,000 light-years away, respectively.

Answer 6

At the speed of light:

About 100,000 years

Answer 7

probably about 30 billion years now, but by then it would take longer. and even if you got all the way, there is probably unknown universe out there so how would you know you got there?